2019 World Championships – Participants and Tournament Structure

IKF World Korfball Championship 2019 – Participants known

In just five and a half months the IKF World Korfball Championship (WKC) 2019 in Durban South Africa, held from 1 to 10 August, will start. At this point, all the participants are known.

The IKF WKC 2019 will contain the highest number of participants in the history of korfball. The number of 16 countries during the IKF WKC 2015 in Belgium has grown to 20 participating countries at this year’s edition. The participating countries all have qualified themselves during their Continental Championships in 2018.

Of the initial 20 countries that qualified for the IKF WKC 2019 the Dominican Republic and Zimbabwe unfortunately had to withdraw. While also the first reserve of the Americas (Brazil) was not able to step in, the first reserves of Europe (Slovakia) and Asia (Macau China) have been approached as replacements. Both countries happily accepted the invitation.

The participating countries are:

Countries (Continent)

IKF World Ranking*

Australia (OC)

10

Belgium (EU)

3

Catalonia (EU)

12

China (AS)

4

Chinese Taipei (AS)

2

Czech Republic (EU)

7

England (EU)

6

Germany (EU)

5

Hong Kong China (AS)

11

Hungary (EU)

9

Ireland (EU)

20

Japan (AS)

24

Macau China (AS)

30

Netherlands (EU)

1

New Zealand (OC)

16

Poland (EU)

13

Portugal (EU)

8

Slovakia (EU)

17

South Africa (AF)

15

Surinam (AM)

21

The 20 countries will be divided over five pools by a public draw during the IKF U19 WKC, Saturday 20 April. In the coming weeks the pool draw procedure, pot composition and the tournament set-up will be announced. So, keep a close look at the IKF Website and Social Media Channels.

The IKF World Korfball Championship (WKC) 2019 is getting closer and closer. Today, we announce the tournament set-up and the pool draw criteria.

The 20 participating countries start playing in five pools of four countries. The top three of each pool and the best number four qualify for the round of 16 and stay in the race to become the World Korfball Champion 2019. The remaining four countries will be playing against each other in a round-robin system, with a final at the end, to determine their position in the final ranking (position 17 – 20). The exact match schedule after the group stage will be announced closer to the draw in April.

The best number four will be decided following the rules stated in the IKF Competition Regulations (*), which state that the points earned by each team shall be decisive. In case these points are equal, the goal difference shall be taken into account. If teams are still equal after this, the goals scored by each team shall be the final decisive factor. (*In the case multiple teams end up with the same number of points, the scores against the pool leaders will be taken out.)

To decide the line-up of the five pools, an open draw will be conducted. This draw will be held during the IKF U19 World Korfball Championship in ‘t Kalverdijkje, The Netherlands on Saturday, April 20th at 14:00 o’clock. For the draw, the 20 participating countries have been divided into four pots.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Pool E

Netherlands

Chinese Taipei

Belgium

China

Germany

Pot 2

Pot 2

Pot 2

Pot 2

Pot 2

Pot 3

Pot 3

Pot 3

Pot 3

Pot 3

Pot 4

Pot 4

Pot 4

Pot 4

Pot 4

Pot 1: Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Belgium, China, Germany.

Pot 2: England, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Australia.

Pot 3: Hong Kong China, Catalonia, Poland, South Africa, Suriname.

Pot 4: New Zealand, Slovakia, Ireland, Japan, Macau China.

The draw criteria as decided by the IKF EXCO are:

Pool leaders are not drawn but are fixed, based on the top five of the IKF World Ranking.

The IKF World Ranking as per 31-12-2018 is used to decide which countries end up in Pot 1-4, taking into account that all Continental champions are at least positioned in Pot three.

It is not allowed to have four European, three Asian or two Oceanian countries in the same pool. In case this happens during the draw, the relevant country will change position with the country drawn after. In case this is not possible, the change will be made with the country that has been drawn before.

The drawing is completed per pot. So, first all countries presented in Pot 2 are drawn, then all countries in Pot 3 and, finally, all countries in Pot 4.